The mysterious “Tingari” is a creation myth that refers to a group of ancestral elders who embarked upon periodic epic journeys through vast tracts of the Gibson/Western Deserts. As they traveled, they performed sacred and mystical rituals which opened up new land. The adventures of these Tingari groups are enshrined in numerous song and painting cycles which still inform the Pintupi people today. With no written language, the songs and paintings of the Tingari Cycle form an integral part of the “passing down” of the ancient laws, Dreamings and Culture to the next generation of initiates known as the Punyunyu. The Pintupi were a nomadic people who wandered over incredible distances from west of Lake MacKay in Western Australia to just east of Kintore in the Northern Territory. Their very survival depended upon their intimate knowledge of the land and the exact position of the next underground waterhole. The remarkable paintings of the Pintupi are in effect aerialview landscapes sometimes on a scale that reflects the vastness of their Country. These paintings map not only the physical landscape, but also the spiritual element and how the two interact. Indeed, the Pintupi lands are so remote that only as recently as 1984, a family group of nine Pintupi speakers walked out the desert into the small community at Kiwirrkura just inside the Western Australian border. These people had lived undetected and completely unaware of Western Culture. When they walked into the 20th Century, they brought with them intact Dreamings and lore that stretched back tens of thousands of years.
Thomas Tjapaltjarri was born c. 1964 in the Gibson Desert, Western Australia. In 1984 he was one of a group of nine that made national headlines. Dubbed "the Last Nomads" the group caused a sensation when thy walked out of the desert and made contact with the "modern" world for the first time. Leading a completely traditional existence before this time they were finally forced out of the desert to seek eligible wives for Thomas and his brothers Warlimpirrnga and Walala. Three years later Thomas commenced painting for Papunya Tula artists after encouragement from Warlimpirrnga. Of the original group who emerged from the desert in 1984 the nomadic streak remains strongest perhaps in Thomas. Now an established and gifted artist Thomas paints in a style similar to that of his brothers. The stories or "dreamings" of the Tingari Cycle are an important body of myth concerning the early journey paths of Tingari Ancestors throughout the "tjukurrpa" or dreamtime. It is these stories which Thomas conveys through his skillful brushwork across the canvas.
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